


Together Again

by KingOfClubs



Series: The Walking Dead Rewrites! [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Clementine's Terrible Life (Walking Dead), McCarroll Ranch, Rewritten Scene, Wordcount: 1.000-5.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25131196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfClubs/pseuds/KingOfClubs
Summary: “Clem... ?”She felt her heart both sink all the way to her feet, and her nerves explode, fear and happiness battling as she said, “Yeah, that’s right!”
Series: The Walking Dead Rewrites! [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1833778
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Together Again

She glanced around, her racing heart almost calmed by the sound of the horse’s hooves against the pavement.

The horse picked up the pace, the air grew more humid as they slowly but surely reached the ranch, her hair sticking to her face as small pieces of ash flew all around her. The whole place was on fire. 

The teen pressed her legs tighter against the horse, eager to get into the building faster. Still, the horse slowed to a stop immediately as a gunshot echoed throughout the dark forest behind her. She had no time to react as her horse hit the floor, barely able to roll and take cover behind him. 

Clementine felt her heart sink. Her eyes caught the suffering eyes of the horse, his breathing harsh and desperate, the life soon leaving them altogether as his motion stopped. 

She inhaled deeply, counting silently in her head. She exhaled when she heard the useless clicking of an empty gun and stood up, shooting the perpetrator. She approached him warily, her pace slow. She lifted her gun to his head. “I’m looking for a boy. He’s about three years old, his name’s Alvin Junior... “ 

The man lifted his middle finger with his other hand. 

Not wanting to waste time, Clementine turned away and continued her search. She soon approached the main gate that was utterly broken, the wood fallen and mostly caught on fire. As she walked through a hand grabbed at her foot, holding it tightly and pulling it closer.

Panicked, Clementine immediately turned and prepared to kick in the skull of a walker, only to be met face to face with a human in a form she’s never seen one in before.

His skin and hair were burnt, little cracks in ashy black skin revealed still burning flesh, and his eyes were staring, very much alive and in agony, into her own. 

She felt herself freeze as he reached up desperately, his other hand stuck and squished under the rest of the gate. He spoke in a broken, hushed voice, pain very obvious. “Please,” he begged, “Please kill me.”

She swallowed and took a step back, reaching a hand to her gun. “Where are the children?” She managed to ask.

“It hurts. Oh my god, it hurts so bad.” 

Clementine forced herself to look away, shutting her eyes for a moment before walking deeper into the building. His cries continued to reach her ears with each step she took. “Kill me. Don’t leave. Come back! Please! I beg of you!”

She kept walking.

“Eat some of this shit!” A man shouted as he ran into the middle of the hall, the sound of bullets loud and clear in the tighter space. The loud cracking of bullets stopped as the man turned and took a step back. “Another one?” he exclaimed as he pointed the gun at her. Seeing the barrel of the gun again brought her out of shock, and she swiftly ducked behind some boxes for cover. The gunfire stopped for a moment as he reloaded his pistol. Clementine took the opportunity to leave cover and shoot, successfully hitting his shoulder.

He cried out, and Clementine ran over, resting the barrel of her gun against his temple. Her finger hovered over the trigger hesitantly. “I’m not messing around! Tell me where the kids are!”

“Jesus! Alright, alright. That way...” he pointed to the side, looking at her with wide eyes, breathing shaky. “There’s a nursery.”

Clementine leaned forward and looked where he pointed, squinting through a small cloud of smoke. “But I’m not letting one of you savages take a kid!” He yelled and shifted his arm to grab a knife, sending her into a panic. Her finger instinctively pressed the trigger, and the man fell to the floor, lifeless.

With shaky breathing, she continued walking, slowly approaching a car squeezing into the hall's space. Music blasted through the radio, and the passenger door was wide open, forcing her to shut it as quietly as she could and slipping past it. 

Soon enough, something grabbed Clementine’s shirt, and she whipped around, shooting what she assumed to be a walker in the knee, but instead, it was a little kid, shot in the face.

Clementine’s eyes widened, looking into the kid’s blue eyes. Freckles adorned her face, now covered in blood. Her blonde hair now turning red from the blood.

“No. No. No… I’m so sorry. No,” she bent down, using her two fingers to close the kid’s eyes. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered before standing back up and walking again, this time way more shakily and scared than before.

Soon she was face to face with the nursery; the only thing separating them being a door left a little ajar. As she snuck closer, she could hear hushed whispers and panicked footsteps pacing around the room.

“Sorry... So sorry. Don’t worry, we’re leaving soon.”

Clementine —still shaking from the previous event that just happened — pushed the door open slightly, stopping in her tracks like a deer caught in headlights when her and the woman locked eyes. The woman immediately went for her gun, exclaiming, “No! I won’t let you!” before Clementine quickly lifted hers and fired.

Much like the body of the man she just shot and the poor little kid a few minutes back, the body slumped to the floor with a loud thud. Blood splattered all over the lockers behind her, a trail of blood left after her descent. Her hands opened, and a small plastic bottle rolled out and onto the floor, making Clementine’s heartbeat rapidly and forcing her to move forward to avoid overthinking. “AJ!”

Her hand wrapped tightly around the handle and pulled hard, but to no avail. A bang echoed through the room as she hit the locker door hard, resting her head on it for a second before stepping back and looking around the room. Her eyes met a shiny key still resting patiently in the woman’s hand.

Clementine crouched next to the woman, avoiding looking at the gaping bullet hole in her cheek. It looked just like the kid she had shot earlier, in almost the same spot. She grabbed the gun, rolling out the clip and checking for bullets. _ I had to for AJ _ . After pocketing the gun with her shaky hands, she picked up the bottle, wincing. She must’ve been taking care of AJ. At least someone was. 

Finally, she got a hold of the cold key and whispered an apology before turning and almost slamming the key into the hole. 

As she opened the door with adrenaline pumping in her veins, her breath hitched, and she felt tears fill her eyes. His still little but much larger than she remembered form was shaking, his little sobs and cries isolated in the locker's tiny space. He sat turned away, clothes covered in blood and arms wrapped around his knees. “Oh, AJ...”

A myriad of thoughts plagued her mind as she muttered a tender, “It’s me, Clem.” But he only hid his face further and cried harder, making her lips pull into a frown. She reached out to grab him, and with gentle hands, she carried him out of the locker, resting him against her chest and holding him tightly. His head shifted, and a sudden loud scream rang in her ears, turning herself to the other side to keep him from looking at the dead, shot woman on the floor.

“Let’s get you out of here, okay?” She said in a soft voice, rubbing his back while she slowly walked out of the room step after step. She opened the door and placed him on the old, worn-out leather seat, ruffling his hair. She swiftly moved to the other side and got in herself, shutting the door.

For a moment, she only sat there silently, gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles paled and breathing hardened. Images from what happened kept appearing right in front of her, but as she looked at AJ, it all went silent. The blood on his face unsettled her, and with a small cloth she grabbed from her pocket, she wiped it off, crushing it into a ball and placing it in her pocket once more. He continued to cry.

“Okay, now... where to?” She asked more to herself than not, lifting her gaze to the front again. “Can’t go back to Richmond, that whole area is a warzone. Gotta...”

“Go?” AJ asked quietly, still sobbing in his seat, hands laid on his knees. 

“Yeah,” Clementine looked at him, “We have to go, AJ. This place, we can’t stay here, it’s not safe. But it’s okay!” She assured, running her hand through his hair once more, smiling. “We’re survivors! And the first rule of survival is...”

Her gaze trailed off to the side, mind occupied. She blinked before looking back at him, confidence in her voice. “Never go alone.”

“N... Never go alone,” AJ wiped his tears away with his hand, his sobs still apparent, but tears barely present. “Clem... ?”

She felt her heart both sink all the way to her feet, and her nerves explode, fear and happiness battling as she said, “Yeah, that’s right!” But then the images appeared again, gunshots and cries and eyes of dead, dead people staring into hers, and she knew she was close to tears again. “AJ, I’m... I’m so sorry. For everything.” 

A pause.

“I know where we’ll go. We’ll find ourselves a new home, together, and I’ll never leave you again.”

She held the gear and prepared to shift, only to have her hand gripped by AJ’s. She gave him a reassuring smile, one full of promise and determination, and he contently let go and leaned back in his seat. The car started, and they started a journey.

To find their new home.


End file.
